Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

In after Baud. Damn.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

T R E 4 5 O N

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

We still have time to mess this up!

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Radicalizing my daughter

Radicalizing my daughter

by | 72 Comments

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Last night, I went to the Durham, North Carolina protest. It was very well organized and structured by local teenagers. Street medics were handing out masks and making sure people stayed hydrated. I saw a couple of people moved to the shade as they were baking in the sun. The legal observers were clearly visible and circulating around the edges of the crowd. Durham police had an extremely light touch; a couple of cruisers were a block away for traffic control. Half a dozen motorcycle cops were in a parking lot five or six blocks away as an on-call local response unit. There was no violence, nor confrontations as no one was looking for that to happen. The speakers were powerful and the nine minutes of silence as everyone sat on the plaza’s ground was profound.

I got home about half an hour before my 11 year old daughter’s bed time. I took a shower and threw on a t-shirt and shorts for the rest of the evening. My daughter gave me a hug and asked if I was okay and if I was safe. We had talked about the concept of a blue-riot earlier this week and that opened her eyes. I told her that I was fine as the Durham cops were not looking for a dominance display. She relaxed until she saw my wife’s and her mother’s phone number on the inside of my left fore-arm.

“Dad, why is Mom’s cell number on your arm?”

“In case I got hurt and someone needed to get in touch with mom, I wanted her number to be easy to find…”

“Ohh….” and at that my daughter was silent as she started to process that her dad was taking precautions in case he was beaten.

I held the silence for a minute, and then another one as her brain was working on overdrive.

“That’s not right. That’s wrong.”

“Yep, and I’m trying to help make things slightly more right”

“What can I do, Dad?”

Reader Interactions

72Comments

  1. 1.

    Lavocat

    You can’t see or hear me, but I am giving you a standing ovation. And crying a little.

  2. 2.

    Nicole

    Stories like this make me hope we are seeing a real change in how police are viewed in this nation.  Thanks for sharing it.

  4. 4.

    David Hunt

    Sir, you are well within your rights to take pride in having raised a child who  gave that response with confronted with that information.  She makes me a little more hopeful.

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    “What can I do, Dad?”

    If anything ever deserved to be a rotating tag, it’s this.

  8. 8.

    Mary G

    I’m so sorry she has to learn how ugly the world can be at such a young age. She got right to the heart of the matter:

    “That’s not right. That’s wrong.”

    I hope we can get things closer to right by the time she has her own children American reality will match our founders’ ideals.

  9. 9.

    raven

    The Athens Anti-discrimination Movement is having a rally downtown tomorrow. There has been a concerted campaign to sabotage it with “antifa sent a message that the are going to burn down Athens” and saying that the fire department has told their people they won’t be sent downtown. I know lots of folks who intend to take their kids down there and I’ll be holding my breath because I put nothing past these fuckers.

  10. 10.

    wvng

    Having a hard time lately with my eyes tearing up for some reason.  Does hope make you tear?

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    O/T, but Trump is on right now and he’s giving Sarah Cooper a month’s worth of material. I can hardly wait.

  14. 14.

    wvng

    @SiubhanDuinne: Speaking of the amazing Sarah, have you noticed that she uses a subtle orange makeup when she does these videos? I first noticed that yesterday.

  15. 15.

    Rob

    @Rob: And then I was reading the exchange between David and his daughter to my wife, and I started to cry.

  16. 16.

    Barbara

    Bravo.  It gives you the warmest kind of feeling inside to know that your kids are good people.

  17. 17.

    patrick II

    Speaking of proud fathers.  My 40-year-old daughter was put on unemployment in NYC (she delivers artworks between galleries) at the beginning of the crisis.  Ah, good, I thought she’ll stay at home and mostly self-isolate.  I hate that she lives in NYC anyway.  So, anyway, later I find that she had taken a volunteer job delivering medicine to older people who couldn’t leave their apartment during the worst of the pandemic.  She has grown up to be such a fine person, but still terrorizes her dad.

  18. 18.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Durham police had an extremely light touch

    What really should be done with these protests is the amount of violence reported collected into a data base, I will bet that will show which police force are in the Occupation Army mentality.

  20. 20.

    donnah

    Good for you, and good for your daughter.

    My sons all attended integrated schools. When my middle son was in third grade, he and I were watching some TV program about the early days of integrating schools. They showed footage of the little African American girl being escorted to a white elementary school amid the protests by white people, screaming and yelling at her.

    My son asked me why those people were so angry and I told them that some people don’t believe that brown people are the same as white people and that they aren’t as smart or good. He looked at me in utter astonishment and said, “But Mom, that isn’t true!” And I told him of course it isn’t true. And that he should always remember that.

    Racism is taught. We aren’t born with it.

  22. 22.

    dnfree

    Beautiful story and your daughter will remember this all her life.

    one of my adult children posted on social media that she was grateful her dad and I talked about these issues at home when she was young.

  24. 24.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Damn, second time I’ve cried this morning (first time was Biden giving his flag pin away). That was beautiful.

    I know people wish she didn’t have to learn that..this early or ever. But the best gift my parents gave me was a sense of fighting for injustice. I remember the first time – I was 6 and my parents stood up and said, ‘that’s not how we treat people, everyone is equal.’

    I hold onto those lessons, now that my parents have been brainwashed by FOX and Rush. I remember who raised me and hope they’ll remember someday, too.

  28. 28.

    Jackie

    “Big Bird and Elmo will address the demonstrations and racial justice issues in a virtual CNN town hall this weekend.“

    I plan to watch this with my granddaughters.

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: when I heard him babbling about inspecting the bunker, I thought, “it’s like he’s intentionally writing a script for Sarah Cooper…”

    and she deserves to be go-funded for going back to 2016 for “How to Bible“. I think it’s her best one yet.

  30. 30.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @wvng: No, I hadn’t! Good catch! I’ll go back and have a look. I think she’s brilliant, and so much of the brilliance is in the subtleties.

  31. 31.

    Mike in NC

    In contrast, read an article where in lovely Asheville, NC a bunch of cops trashed a small stand that doctors, nurses, and paramedics had set up with water and medical supplies in the event protesters needed them. Waiting to find out what the mayor and police chief did in response.

  32. 32.

    J R in WV

    David, you’ve got a good one there… congratulations! Smart, too, didn’t take her a minute to put all that together.

    Thanks for sharing!!

  33. 33.

    bemused

    The Epoch Times is sending free paper to boxholders around the country. We know a liberal who got one in his mailbox in northern MN, nonprofit org postage paid. I’d like to know who funds that group.

  34. 34.

    artem1s

    I’m impressed how you allowed your daughter the space to process the info. She’s gonna be one of the helpers Mr. Rogers told us to look for when times are hard!

  36. 36.

    Salty Sam

    Reading this post to my wife just now.  I couldn’t get that last line out for choking up…

  37. 37.

    Hoodie

    I heard that the Durham PD and the Durham organizers did a lot better job than what happened in Raleigh.   Thanks for teaching your daughter well.

  38. 38.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @TaMara (HFG):

    I hold onto those lessons, now that my parents have been brainwashed by FOX and Rush. I remember who raised me and hope they’ll remember someday, too.

    Same.

  40. 40.

    trollhattan

    @bemused:

    Got one a couple weeks ago and it was so strident I had to look it up–funded by Falun Gong, who I’d like to support in light of their horrid persecution by the CCP, but they should not have crawled in bed with the Republicans.

  41. 41.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Mike in NC: The mayor and police chief issued formal apologies; his is on youtube (hopefully I didn’t screw up the link).
    This police chief is very new here. I’m interested to see whether he can contain some of the thugs on APD.

  42. 42.

    Aleta

    In the Post, by Lilun Li (head and neck surgery resident at George Washington University Hospital in DC).

    My patient locked eyes with a police officer in D.C.’s Lafayette Square around 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Moments before, law enforcement officers sprayed him with tear gas …. While trying to wash out his eyes, my patient saw a series of rubber bullets fired at the bodies of fellow protesters. Looking up, he saw the police officer seven feet away aiming straight at him. That’s when the rubber bullet struck him in the face.

    After recovering from the initial shock of his injury, he noticed he was bleeding from his chin. He walked to the closest emergency room, George Washington University Hospital, where a trauma protocol was activated. His initial evaluation revealed an actively bleeding gaping wound through his chin and lip, exposing his jaw bone. CT imaging demonstrated multiple ballistic fragments embedded within the soft tissue of his face.

    As a head and neck surgeon, I have treated many facial trauma patients, including gunshot wound victims. Even I was surprised at the extent of my patient’s injury sustained from a supposedly “benign” rubber bullet. I spent hours cleaning his wound, extracting numerous pieces of plastic and metal that were embedded in his lip and chin and removing tissue that was no longer viable because of the injury. Despite his fear of needles, my patient remained calm and cooperative, allowing me to put in the multiple layers of sutures required to cover the exposed bone and close the complex lip and chin wound.

     

    … (A) 2002 study published in the Lancet found that close to 40 percent of rubber bullets used by Israeli police to control riots by Israeli Arabs in 2000 caused penetrating injuries, and improper aiming and range resulted in severe injury and death. A separate literature review of rubber bullet injuries spanning from 1975 to 2016 shows that the face is the most vulnerable part of the body to penetrating wounds by rubber bullets, with injuries leading to irreversible consequences, such as blindness and neurological damage due to bullet penetration through the brain. A recent study of the yellow-vest protesters in France in 2018 further illustrates the prevalence of facial and dental fractures, lip wounds and blindness from rubber bullet use.

     

    … Anyone who has access to these weapons, as well as the public, should know of their ability to inflict significant trauma and death. … Law enforcement should also consider the extensive medical care required to treat severe injuries from these weapons, which will strain an already overwhelmed health-care system during the covid-19 pandemic.

    …

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    Watch out, man. In 10 years, your college-student daughter will send you video clips of her getting chased out of a public park by cops firing tear-gas and rubber bullets. It’s one of the shitty side-effects of raising conscientious kids that no one tells you about! :)

  48. 48.

    Gin & Tonic

    As a practical matter, rather than writing the number(s) on your arm, you could get one of these. I’m just a customer, no other affiliation, but I always wear mine when I’m skiing or cycling.

  56. 56.

    Elizabelle

    @rikyrah:   Love it.  I am loving the pushback against our Orange bunker inspector in chief.

    As painful as Trump’s “electoral college victory” has been, I have always held out hope that it might be a crucible that results in even better and more far-reaching change.  Recovering is going to require way more than “incremental” actions.  This has been a dumpster fire.

    The Republicans are electorally endangered.  You cannot make a better case for voting by mail than allowing citizens to participate in democracy during a deadly pandemic that has killed over 100,000 in a few long months.

    People of color have borne the worst of Trump’s actions, and of his outright negligence and sabotage WRT his pandemic “response.”  But almost all of us have suffered, and a majority of us are willing to acknowledge that.

    This has come at an immeasurable cost, particularly to the African American community.  Lives.

    But they are leading the way to fighting back.  With more than words.

    It’s incredible that protest in the streets has come into vogue.  But look what it took.  I don’t see us going home and just shutting up.

  57. 57.

    Haroldo

    @David Anderson:

    BTW — the teenagers and young adults these days are absolutely amazing as a cohort — they put my generation to shame.

    This thread has given me much needed optimism.

    Thank you.

  58. 58.

    Libby’s Person

    Thanks for sharing this wonderful story.  You must be a great father to have raised such an awesome daughter!    I’m proud of Durham, where I also live.  I went to the downtown protest Tuesday afternoon and was encouraged by the peaceful but intense passion of the diverse crowd and the relatively unobtrusive and non-provocative police presence.  Raleigh got trashed that night; Durham stayed calm.  When protesters closed the Durham Freeway later in the week, Durham’s Police and Sheriff’s Departments and city government reps talked with the protest leaders and set up a meeting to discuss policing in our city, and the protesters peacefully left the highway.  Good for Durham.

  60. 60.

    Cam-WA

    No, you aren’t “radicalizing” your daughter.  To raise a child to understand the systemic racism in our society isn’t to “radicalize” him/her; it’s to raise her to see the world as it really is.

    We won’t make true, significant progress on systemic racism until it is commonly understood and accepted as true to the point that it isn’t considered “radical” to do so.

  61. 61.

    db11

    This is such a touching story David. For anyone with kids it’s impossible to read and not be moved.

    Thanks for relaying it — a little uplifting goes a long way these days :)

  62. 62.

    way2blue

    Kids.  They get you every time with their laser-like distillation of the stakes…  Thanks for sharing.

  63. 63.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @patrick II: Congratulations on such an upstanding daughter.  I might have worked with her company in NYC – Atelier, Crozier, Box Art, Artemis?

  64. 64.

    Victor Matheson

    The 14- and 15-year old have joined me for protests twice this week. I am just happy they are for once protesting true injustice rather than the perceived injustice of having to practice their trumpet  before getting more screen time or protesting having to finished all of their green beans before they get another brownie.

  65. 65.

    Drdavechemist

    Late to the party as usual, and probably already been said, but you and your wife have done a super job raising this child! We just need a few million more like her.

  66. 66.

    bemused

    @trollhattan:

    I knew the name Epoch Times rang a bell, a paper that sounded like a crackpot outfit. Flipped through it and yes, it was what I had read about awhile ago, all in for trump too.

  67. 67.

    bemused

    @Aleta:

    This morning I read about Linda Tirado, author of Hand to Mouth, Living in Bootstrap America, covering protest in Minneapolis believed she was hit with a rubber bullet and now has no sight in left eye, permanently doctors think.

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